Derek Wang: Liszt on Pilgrimage
St John's Smith Square, St John's Church Smith Square, SW1P 3HA , [Venue Details]Illuminated by poetry and letters, Liszt's musical travelogue comes alive as an inner quest.
In 1835, Franz Liszt eloped with the Countess Marie d’Agoult, leaving Paris for Switzerland in a voyage of self-discovery modeled on Lord Byron.
His First Year of Pilgrimage charts a young artist’s reckoning with landscape, literature, and memory, with the brooding “Vallée d’Obermann” at its heart, reaching toward the inexpressible.
“Could I embody and unbosom now / That which is most within me…”—so Childe Harold, the melancholy voyager of Byron’s poem, sounds the depths of his own consciousness, and laments his inability to bring himself to the point of expression. Liszt prefaces his own “Vallée d’Obermann” with this stanza, posing the question: how do you find the words, or the music, to express the inexpressible?
In this concert, acclaimed pianist and communicator Derek Wang fuses words and music, illuminating Liszt’s Swiss Year of Pilgrimage with readings of Byron’s poetry and Liszt’s own letters. Derek was awarded Fourth Prize at the 2024 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, which follows awards at the 2022 Liszt Utrecht Competition (Second Prize) and the 2021 New York Liszt Competition (First Prize).
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Admission: £6.00
Performer name: Derek Wang
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Derek Wang: Liszt on Pilgrimage
Thursday, 22 Jan 2026 @1.05pm
St John's Smith Square, St John's Church Smith Square, SW1P 3HAMore Information
Illuminated by poetry and letters, Liszt's musical travelogue comes alive as an inner quest.
In 1835, Franz Liszt eloped with the Countess Marie d’Agoult, leaving Paris for Switzerland in a voyage of self-discovery modeled on Lord Byron.
His First Year of Pilgrimage charts a young artist’s reckoning with landscape, literature, and memory, with the brooding “Vallée d’Obermann” at its heart, reaching toward the inexpressible.
“Could I embody and unbosom now / That which is most within me…”—so Childe Harold, the melancholy voyager of Byron’s poem, sounds the depths of his own consciousness, and laments his inability to bring himself to the point of expression. Liszt prefaces his own “Vallée d’Obermann” with this stanza, posing the question: how do you find the words, or the music, to express the inexpressible?
In this concert, acclaimed pianist and communicator Derek Wang fuses words and music, illuminating Liszt’s Swiss Year of Pilgrimage with readings of Byron’s poetry and Liszt’s own letters. Derek was awarded Fourth Prize at the 2024 Hastings International Piano Concerto Competition, which follows awards at the 2022 Liszt Utrecht Competition (Second Prize) and the 2021 New York Liszt Competition (First Prize).
Admission: £6.00
Performer name: Derek Wang
Halibuts is the only place to find ALL London's live music.
Free for all to use, we track ~1,000 London venues and list every type of live music.
Click here to start using Halibuts.
Or download the Halibuts APP:
IOS
ANDROID